Thank god the drinks at Bar Lotus are banging. Because – were the cocktails crap – the place itself would be quite funny. That is because this Kingsland Road cocktail bar is a kind of 1980s fever dream of a venue. It’s retro avant garde in a way that brings to mind Slovenian performance art spaces featuring video installations (it even has the industrial trance soundtrack to go with it.) Luckily, Bar Lotus has an exceptional roster of drinks, all prepared on a minimalist island slap-bang in the middle of the room. Each of the venue’s signature cocktails excels at being surprising and creative while never seeming gimmicky or frivolous. Whoever designs these things is clearly very good at it. It helps that the bar snacks, which are freshly prepared in the kitchen, are all top-tier dishes. The fried chicken lollipops in particular, served with an otherworldly peanut rayu, demand to be ordered twice. At least.
The other thing that makes Bar Lotus great is the bar staff. It would have been easy to hire a load of po-faced hipsters as a way to complement the decor. But in fact the people working here are unfailingly helpful, patient and sweet-natured.
Any self-respecting Londoner’s cynicism alarm will go off upon entering Bar Lotus. Luckily, this place has charm in spades and any misgivings you have about the place’s self seriousness will immediately be neutralised by the staff, the food and of course the cocktails. A fantastic addition to London’s stiff-drink scene.
Order this
The drinks at Bar Lotus are special. Inventive, eye-catching and, crucially, shockingly well executed. Our pick? The Sango, which features sake, gin and – in a stroke of lip-smacking genius – green tomato. A clean-tasting, genuinely refreshing blast of cocktail genius.
What’s nearby?
All of hard-partying Dalston. Kingsland Road is bar-hopping heaven, what with Pamela, Hacha, Brilliant Corners and Three Sheets all within stumbling distance. And if Bar Lotus’ brilliant bar snacks menu doesn’t hit the spot, why not try your luck at Mu just a few doors down.